Re: City v Concord

[pete mac]

Keen to hear what the boss has to say.

He must be running out of patience

[cannonball]

That was not good yesterday....we huffed and puffed and most of the time got no where and seemed rather rudderless across the park. We scored 2 scrappy goals whereas Concord skilfully created & scored two real quality ones and although we put a lot of pressure on in the 2nd half we never looked in control or created any real scoring chances against a team in the bottom three. It was a replica of some other recent home performances when we have had plenty of possession and ended up getting nowhere.......the Potters Bar debacle springs to mind and also the Dartford, Eastbourne & both Oxford games as well.

None of our current strikers are ever going to score a dozen goals let alone the magic 20 goals a season and because of this the defence is being put under more pressure every game. The back four is looking very loose & vulnerable at times and because the goals are just not going in the other end, one mistake becomes a complete game changer as we continue to struggle up top. We may not be shipping loads of goals in games - big thanks to Max O'Leary yesterday - but if you cannot score fairly regularly you are going to find it very hard to make any progress at all.

Jack Batten did his best at right back in the 1st half but he is no creative overlapping full back and for some reason Danny Ball's form has dipped alarmingly and with the team set up as we are at the moment, getting forward from the back is crucial. I would revert Ball back to his central defence role where he plays really well off a big centre half (not Hemmings as he should be in the holding midfield role) and push Manny Monthe out wide as he always tries to get forward with much more purpose.

It is crunch time now for GO and this squad of players as they are really are under performing at present. Following such a promising start to the season we are now in danger of sliding down the League in the next few weeks and the early season optimism that we could give a few teams a hiding if we got it right, is fading fast.

I have to say that I am still puzzled as to why GO let Bowman go as he would have been ideal yesterday and although I still have every confidence that GO will sort things out, he needs to have a real think about one or two of the players who are just not delivering, working hard enough or are playing in the wrong position. I fully accept this is a tough task on a limited budget, but we need players who will actually make a positive difference on the pitch as the current crop have become all so very predictable each week with zero end product.  

[comrade powell]

Great post as always, Cannon. On Dan Bowman, he was not on a contract so it wasn't really a case of letting him go.

[cannonball]

Great post as always, Cannon. On Dan Bowman, he was not on a contract so it wasn't really a case of letting him go.  

Well OK Comrade I accept that.....but could we not have done a little bit more to try and keep him??

Don't get me wrong he isn't THAT good, but he is certainly good enough to play at our level and 'create' something different, which we really do not have at the moment. We have a team of steady, reasonably good footballers who do a job but there is no one who can suddenly get the crowd excited and do something different which 'might' result in us unlocking these blanket line defences we have so much trouble getting behind.

Mind you.... we then have the problem of finding someone to stick their leg out and poke it in the net from 6 yards regularly so the problem is far deeper than keeping Dan Bowman!!

PS....I think it must be Bath City club policy not to play these type of dangerous crowd pleasing players because Ross Stearn, despite his goal record, could never get a regular game under Lee Howells and he is now comfortably plying his trade and scoring goals in the National Conference League with Sutton.

[comrade powell]

Yes, I agree with you that Dan is just the sort of player who can lift the crowd and over the years it has been frustrating to see his like under used. For me the perfect example was Craig Davidge - he was inconsistent but on his day could frighten the life out of defenders. Thank goodness dear Brian Godfrey had confidence in the likes of Martin Wheeler and Peter Rogers!

[Luton Roman]

Oh not Davidge again. The type that would run into a wall for you...and did of course. Enthusiastic and plucky.

[Marc Monitor]

Well, it's a good point. Basically, it comes from having seen many of the players pass well in the past and the ones that have come in recently - Broom, Morgan etc. - seem to have been half-decent. What has happened recently, however, is anyone's guess.

[comrade powell]

Oh not Davidge again. The type that would run into a wall for you...and did of course. Enthusiastic and plucky.

The Greased Whippet was a bit more than that. Wash your mouth out!

[BenE]

Of course I never saw these heroes of yesteryear. What I am more interested in is the heroes of today. If we had any we would not need to keep looking backwards.

Which of the current team could make that status in time?

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